From French class to actual France

In case you missed the memes, WNBA All-Star Weekend (ASW) turned 115-degree Phoenix into Arizona’s hottest club. From the Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray’s Skills Challenge payday to Saturday’s spicy, sold-out All-Star Game (ASG), here’s what made this ASW extra special.

Women-first dating app Bumble is firmly embracing its sporty era. After past collabs in the e-sports and NIL spaces, the app announced a multiyear partnership with the WNBA last Wednesday The move followed a Bumble survey that helped it realize its users are all about love and basketball.

Unrivaled — the 3x3 pro women’s basketball league founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier — made its first major partnership announcement on Friday. Unsurprisingly, the first sponsor to sign with the new league is Ally, the financial institution that’s been transforming women’s sports through investment via its 50/50 Pledge.

Let’s rehash the best rivalries in the history of women’s sports. Sundays are for spice after all.

Spoiler alert: NIL won’t be the only show in town for long.

Grab your finest Pitbull aviators because the brightest stars in the WNBA will shine across two banner nights of All-Star festivities from Phoenix, Arizona. The weekend includes a 3-Point Contest, Skills Challenge, the actual All-Star Game, and a concert from Mr. 305 himself. Here’s what you need to know before the fun begins tonight at 9 p.m. ET. Dale.

The WNBA just netted another record — this time, for the most lucrative media rights contracts in women’s sports history. On Tuesday, The Athletic reported the WNBA signed three media rights deals alongside the NBA for a grand total of $2.2B over the next 11 years — and they’re likely not done yet.

Women-led sports nonprofit Ico For All is fighting to include women in the age-old sport of decathlon. On Wednesday, the org announced it would host the inaugural Women’s Decathlon World Championships in Geneva, Ohio, next month to coincide with the men’s Olympic event in Paris — where women still can’t compete.

After signing recent WNBA and NWSL partnerships, Google wanted to further support athletes in these leagues. So it worked with rights licensing agency OneTeam Partners to form a historic partnership yesterday with the WNBPA, NWSLPA, and USWNTPA that makes Google Pixel the official mobile phone of the unions and the sponsor of marquee union events.

The final men’s golf major of the season tees off from the birthplace of the sport tomorrow, with a record $17M purse and the Claret Jug — golf’s most coveted trophy — on the line. Fore!

Less than two months after hoisting the inaugural Walter Cup, PWHL Minnesota is facing troubling allegations of bullying and verbal abuse amid an offseason already rife with controversy. As detailed on the latest episode of The GIST of It, here’s a timeline of the fallout that followed Minnesota’s championship win on May 29th.